From evacuations brought on by flooding to paralyzing snow and power outages, more than two feet of snow in places brought the state to a standstill Saturday.

"We are not in a position to lift the travel ban anywhere in the Commonwealth," said Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency Director Kurt Schwartz. "It may well be that the ban needs to stay in place through the day and into tomorrow in some areas."

After a night of blinding conditions and howling winds, Saturday was greeting Bay Staters with as much as 31 inches of snow.

The state said there was widespread damage on the South Shore and Cape Cod. In Westport where hurricane-force wind gusts were reported, fire officials said some roads were closed because of fallen trees and 5-foot drifts.

NSTAR reported widespread damage in its South Shore and Cape Cod service areas and asked customers without power for patience.

It was a message echoed by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, who said, "Stay inside and be patient."

Along the coast south of Boston, severe beach erosion was reported. Residents of Hull were "strongly urged" to evacuate in advance of the Saturday morning high tide.

"We have National Guard troops deployed to help,"said Schwartz. In Salisbury, 20 to 30 residents were evacuated from oceanfront homes.

In Quincy, front-end loaders were used to rescue residents on Narragansett Road in the Houghs Neck section of the city Friday evening, and residents along Shore Road were evacuated. The storm left much of the city in the dark.

On Saturday, Quincy residents could be seen building snow dams to keep rising waters from flooding their homes.

Boston "weathered the storm well," said Mayor Thomas Menino. "No major power outages, no severe flooding."

However, Menino cautioned both residents and out-of-towners to stay off the roads.

"It's clear we still have a lot of work to do. Please stay home so our crews have easy passage to the streets," Menino said.

The MBTA and commuter rail suspended service at 3:30 p.m. Friday. "The MBTA is reporting they are in no position to get the service up and running (Saturday)," said Schwartz. The T expected to have full service restored by Monday.

As of 11 a.m. Saturday, about 412,000 Bay State customers were without power.

NSTAR reported about 249,000 outages while National Grid had about 163,000.

The Postal Service suspended mail delivery in all six New England states.

The National Weather Service warned some areas could see up to 3 feet of snow and 5-foot drifts. As of 11 a.m., weather watchers reporting the highest totals were in Spencer with 31 inches and Framingham with 30.5 inches.

MEMA's Schwartz said the driving ban did not apply to police, fire, EMS, hospital workers and others involved with performing critical functions in both the public and private sectors.

"Most people who are not tied to a critical function that is needed in the next 24 hours may not be on the roads. It will be illegal to be on the roads as of 4 o'clock (Friday)," Schwartz said.

The Saturday Boston Bruins game, which had been scheduled for the afternoon, was moved to 7 p.m., but it was not clear how fans could get there.

"The MBTA won't be running. The travel ban is in place. The Bruins will have to make their own decision. It will not be advisable for patrons to try to get there," said Schwartz.

Officials at Logan Airport said they hoped to reopen one runway at 11 p.m. Saturday.

The Boston Archdiocese even urged parishioners to be prudent about attending Sunday Mass and reminded them that, under church law, the obligation "does not apply when there is grave difficulty in fulfilling this obligation."

The storm could break Boston's all-time snowstorm record of 27.6 inches, set in 2003, forecasters said. The storm also comes almost 35 years to the day after the Blizzard of '78, a ferocious storm that dropped 27 inches of snow, packed hurricane-force winds and claimed dozens of lives.